Rapid Response: Obamacare - hang on or start scrapping it?

DORCHESTER, MA - APRIL 11: Dr. Elizabeth Maziarka reads a blood pressure gauge during an examination of patient June Mendez at the Codman Square Health Center April 11, 2006 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is scheduled to sign a health care reform bill April 12 that would make it the first state in the nation to require all its citizens have some form of health insurance. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Question: After last week's one-year delay on the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, what do you see as the fate of Obamacare and health care reform?

? I can only hope this is the beginning of the end for Obamacare. The more we know, the more expensive it gets. Sorry to say, though, I don't think there are enough votes to get rid of it.

Jon Sexson

Lafayette

? What I hope happens is that it continues to roll out and we get a chance to see what it actually does. If we had a functioning Congress, it could be refined to work better as problems are discovered, but that's not likely.

Noemi Ybarra

Lafayette

? Obamacare is doomed for failure just like Obama's presidency. He will be remembered as the worst president in U.S. history.

Diana Vice

Lafayette

? Given a Congress unable to agree even as to up versus down and a medical establishment dedicated to the proposition that to the victor belongs the spoils, and states like Indiana quite satisfied with their oblivion to the needs of their less wealthy constituents, Obamacare has about as much chance as a snowball in hell.

Ed Posey

West Lafayette

? Obamacare is what happens when you have legislators voting an agenda and not taking the time to actually, you know, read what they're voting on. How about an indefinite delay on the whole thing?

Frank W. James

Wolcott

? The mid-term elections.

Van Phillips

Lafayette

? As we would frequently say in business - plans, policies and procedures are fine, but worthless without proper execution. I don't think this administration has a clue how to execute an act of this magnitude.

Don Shipley

West Lafayette

? Hopefully this is leading up to a complete repeal of Obamacare. But I'm guessing it's just being delayed for the midterm elections, before the damage it will cause becomes too obvious.

Eric D. Swearingen

Lafayette

? More reinterpretation of the law and ignoring those provisions that are politically inconvenient. It's the Obama way.

Steve Leer

Lafayette

? Obamacare is the law of the land, written by the insurance companies who benefit from it. Until the insurance industry withdraws support, it will remain.

Jerry Hirschinger

West Lafayette

? That ultimately it will be implemented. It may not be the final product of national health care, but it's a start.

Mike Dudgeon

Lafayette

? We are stuck with the bad parts of Obamacare because the do-nothing Republicans will not work with Democrats to fix the bad parts or to make health care better for the working poor, seniors and children.

Furman A. Powell

Lafayette

? I don't see it as affordable or about health care. It will eventually bankrupt insurance companies forcing a single-pay system controlled by a government. It is about control and tax increases. Democrats won't survive mid-term elections if voters learn of new taxes first.

E. Lloyd Wells

Lafayette

? Health care reform is already underway. Millions of people now have preventive health care; insurance companies can't stop your coverage once you become sick, charge women higher rates than men, or deny coverage for pre-existing conditions; and parents can help insure young adult children. These are significant advances and should not be minimized by one delay within an extremely complex system.

Mary Nauman

West Lafayette

? To me, it's the acknowledgment that there is a whole lot wrong with that law, and people are starting to understand the ramifications of forcing everyone to participate in such a huge program. Does health care need to be reformed? Yes, but let's start with something that doesn't cost the citizens anything - like reforming litigation laws and medical malpractice lawsuits.

Cindy Salazar

Lafayette

? What I see in the Affordable Care Act is the fact the Republicans have done nothing but belittle it since it was passed. The sad part is we need health care reform and they have done nothing to help. Obamacare might not be the best answer, but it is all we have at the present.

Dennis Donoho

Sedalia

? I don't know what is going to happen, but I hope it winds up in a trash can. Would be a fitting end.

Harold Williams

Shadeland

? I hope the program ends up in the garbage pile where it belongs. As we get closer to implementation, more delays and problems surface, which is what happens when the bill was passed without Congress reading it. It's a train wreck waiting to happen.

Terry Smith

Shadeland

? Like most national health programs, they are a failure. Our health care is a joke. Health care for our citizens is a right not a privilege. Keep the lawyers out.

Mark Acles

Lafayette

? Affordable Care Act, Obamacare and health care reform are your terms for what? I have yet for this paper to explain exactly what the law really is. Explain the law precisely to me. Is every American covered? Who is doing the covering? Who will save money? I'm waiting. Educate me.

Mike Webster

Linden

? Depends. If the sheep continue to allow themselves to be driven by wolves, it will last "forever." If we demand leadership consistent with our founding, independence, we'll throw out the wolves and repeal Obamacare.

Nate Pfeiffer

Wabash Township

? I think the administration is trying to fine tune the bureaucracy and the politics. The Republican right wing will never agree to anything. The only way this will work is if the administration mounts a significant marketing effort. Health care for all is a no brainer, and they have to "sell" it.

Bill Cochran

Lafayette

? If Indiana participates in Medicaid expansion, 400,000 Hoosiers, who have no health insurance, will be covered and 30,000 new jobs will be created, at little cost to the state. Gov. Mike Pence, who is hesitating and delaying, should put the needs of Indiana residents ahead of his ideological opposition to Obamacare.

Frank Rosenthal

West Lafayette

? Political vamping.

David B. Dobbin

West Lafayette

? It is being withheld so that incumbents do not have to defend it in the mid-term elections. It is unconstitutional from the start and hopefully it gets repealed. (Just like the EPA should, Department of Education, Social Security, FEMA - all unconstitutional.)

Daniel Huff

Lafayette

? After several years of our insurance out of pocket staying virtually the same, Obamacare raised us $90 a month in January. Two elderly ladies in our church had nearly identical $1,000 a year increases attributed to Obamacare. So much for looking out for the middle- and fixed-income classes. How can it survive?

Tom Haynie

Buffalo

? What some don't think about is if you have an pre-existing condition, then the insurance companies have to cover it. There are thousands of people in this situation. But then again, a lot of people think of this like I and many others do daylight saving time: crammed down our throats.

Cliff Davenport

Rossville

? I think it will fail miserably within two years. I hope we have the courage to go back to what we had and not accept socialized medicine.

Jack Lahrman

Sheffield Township

? I hope it falls by the wayside. I am not in favor of Obamacare. And, I do not believe health care will improve with Obamacare.

Shelby Branstetter

Lafayette

? I think that both the initial public reaction towards and the long-term effects of Obamacare will be similar to Medicare - initial strident opposition followed by a gradual acceptance and eventual embracing of it as millions of people reap its benefits and grasp its effectiveness in preventing illness and reducing poverty.

Frank Arnold

Lafayette

? The Affordable Care Act, with the false promise of affordable health care for most Americans and millions in savings and with hidden taxes passed by bribing (Nebraska and Louisiana) and lies (that Pennsylvania congressman) and enforced by the profligate spenders of taxpayers' money, the IRS, should be repealed.

Claire Brigham

West Lafayette

? This latest episode in Obama governance proves their utter disregard for the law they created. The law does not permit a delay in its implementation, especially the provisions that established new taxes. It will be all taxes and no health care. The U.S. doesn't have a president; it has a ruler.

Danny L. McDaniel

Lafayette

? Obamacare was ill-conceived, hurriedly authored and far too complex to ever function as hoped. The sooner we can get this monstrosity out of our hair, the better.

David Dimmich

West Lafayette

? The delay was announced just before a four-day weekend for most people. This announcement was made to garner additional votes for the 2014 elections, because when the mandate goes through, jobs will be lost or employees' hours will be cut. Good intentions become an epic failure.

Jim Kalish

Lafayette

? The fate I envision, is the slow erosion of the greatest health care system in the world becoming a bureaucratic tool of the left in their attempt to keep the voting poor on their big government plantation.

Edward Priest

Battle Ground

? Sadly, this Democratic strategy of delaying the controversy until after the 2014 midterm elections will probably work, and so those who voted for passing Obamacare will avoid being properly held accountable by the voters for the fallout that will result from this horrible legislation: less doctors, more unemployment, higher taxes.

John Pickerill

Crawfordsville

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Rapid Response: Obamacare - hang on or start scrapping it?

Question: After last week's one-year delay on the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, what do you see as the fate of Obamacare and health care reform?